8. Has television destroyed communication among people?

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While television has been somewhat harmful in its effects, it has hardly"destroyed" communication among friends and family, although for some people, the assertion that television has destroyed communication among friends and family seems pretty plausible.

Television, invented in last century, with its wide availability, increasingly prosperous programs, becomes one of the most powerful means of communication in the history, and is more and more difficult to ignore. Television is as much a part of our lives as are our meals, work, or school; studies consistently show that the average American child spends almost as much time watching television as does he or she in school. We all have only 24 hours a day and it is clear that the more time one spends on watching television, the less time one does with his or her family and friends. Hence the passage printed in the newspaper or magazine titled "Television took my husband away."

Tempting as such claim might be, it is hardly true. Instead of television, it is the increasing pressure of modern life that took her husband away. We have no definite evidence to say people nowadays endure more pressures than did their counterparts in the past, but it is absolutely true that people nowadays undergo great pressures that come from various directions, including work, school, economy, and so forth. Investigations show that people who earn more than RMB 50, 000 annually spend at least 60 hours on work per week, much more than those who earn RMB 20,000 annually. Today a bachelor's degree may no longer guarantee a decent pay, more and more companies post their want ads claiming that applicants must have at least master's degrees, which take two or three years longer.

People nowadays have very little time for anything; television is merely among many other factors that affect communication, and is definitely not the main cause of degradation. It seems that the more one is educated, the more one is aware of the deleterious effects that excessive television causes, and either deliberately avoid it or actually do not enjoy it. On the other hand, there really are many people addictive to television. But the fact is, were television not existent, surely these people would have found other escapes, such as alcohol or gambling for example. In other words, people always find a way to do what they want to do. Therefore, I can hardly agree that television has destroyed communication among friends and family.

译文

8. 电视是否破坏了人们之间的交流？

虽然电视有一些坏的影响，但它还不会“破坏”与朋友和家人的交流，尽管对有些人来说，电视会破坏与朋友和家人的交流这种断言听起来似乎是很正确的。

电视发明于上个世纪，以其能被大众接受的价位和日益丰富的节目成为历史上最有力的交流工具之一，而且越来越难以让人忽略。电视是我们生活的一部分，就像吃饭、工作、上学一样；研究一贯表明，普通的美国孩子看电视的时间和上学的时间一样长。我们每天都只有24小时，显而易见，在看电视上花的时间越多，与家人或朋友交流的时间就越少。因此，报纸或杂志上刊登过以“电视抢走了我的丈夫”为题的文章。

尽管那种说法是如此诱人，可它不是真的。不是电视，而是现代生活日益增长的压力带走了她的丈夫。我们没有确切的证据说现代人比以前的人承受更大的压力，但是今天的人们承受着来自各个方面的巨大压力确是事实，其中包括工作、学习、经济等各方面的压力。调查显示，年收入人民币5万元以上的人每周至少要花60小时工作，远远超过那些年收入2万元人民币的人。今天，学士学位并不能保证得到一份可观的薪水，越来越多的公司在招聘广告上要求求职者至少要有硕士学位。那比学士学位要多花两到三年的时间。

现在的人们几乎没有时间做任何事；电视只是许多影响交流的因素中的一种，而且肯定不是恶化的主因。似乎人接受的教育越多，就越能认识到过多地看电视所导致的有害影响，所以要么有意避开它，要么根本就不去看它。另一方面，确实有很多人沉迷于电视之中。事实上，如果没有电视，这些人肯定会找到其他的逃避方法，例如酗酒或赌博。换句话说，人们总会想办法做他们想做的事。因此，我不同意是电视破坏了与朋友和家人的交流这种说法。

Word List

assertion ［əˈsə:ʃən］ n. 宣称，断言
guarantee ［ˌgærənˈti:］ vt. 保证
prosperous ［ˈpra:spərəs］ adj. 繁荣的
bachelor degree 学士学位
availability ［əˌveiləˈbiləti］n. 可获得性，有效性
master degree 硕士学位
degradation ［ˌdegrəˈdeiʃən］n. 恶化，退化
consistently ［kənˈsistəntli］ adv. 一直地
tempting ［ˈtemptiŋ］ adj. 有诱惑力的
addictive ［əˈdiktiv］ adj. 上瘾的
endure ［enˈdjuə］ vt. 忍受